Drying machine



March 31, 1925. 1,531,846

E. l. CUTTER DRYING MACHINE Filed June 5, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet l [IVVEN TOR WJW A TTORNE Y5.

March 31. 1925. 1,531,846

E. I. CUTTER DRYING MACHINE Filed June 5, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR W3. c mz, WY W A TTORNE Y3.

' through a drying chamber by Patented Mar. 31, 1925.

nnuun'io I. comma, or 'nonwoon, OHIO,

ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN LAUNDRY.

MACHINERY COMPANY, OF NORWOOD STATION, CINCINNATI, 0310, A CORPORA- Tron or 0310..

:orvsrrna mncnmn Application filed iune 8, 1921. Serial No. 424,593. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDMUND citiien of the United 'wood, in the county of Hamilton and State 5 of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drying Machines, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in drying machines.

More particularly this invention relates to the t pe of drying machine used in laundries for rying clothes. The objects of this invention are to provide a means for circulating air through a. heating chamber and then means of the fan or blower to cause the air after leaving the. drying chamber to be separated into strata and to separate the strata of air containing the moisture from the strata of dry air so that the moisture-ladened stratum can be discharged from the machine and the stratum -ofdry air re-circulated through the heating chamber and the drying chamber; furthermore to provide means whereby at the conclusion 0 the drying operation the heating chamber can be cut out and the door of the machine opened to permit cold air to be drawn throu h the drying chamber and expelled directly through the exhaust.

Further objects of this invention will appear from the following description and claims when considered together with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a drying machine; Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the plane of line 22, Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section through the plane of line 3-3, Fig. 1.

The main outer casing 1 of the drying machine comprises the fan or blower chamber 2, the heating chamber 3, and the drying chamber 4. These chambers 01' compartments are divided off by means of the partition wall 5 which extends throughout the 4 entire length of the machine, the transverse horizontal partition wall 6 which is supported by the wall 5 and the angle iron 7 which extends throughout the entire length of the machine casing, and the wall 8 which extends throughout the entire length of the machine casing and is provided with suitable openings for the screens 9. The wall 8 extends upwardly along the angle iron 7,

to which .it may be also secured, and has I. Curran, a

secured to its upper edge the strip 10 which States, residing at Nordrying chamber to the together with the. oppositely disposed strip 11, extending throughout the length of the machine, fornrathroat or outlet from the discharge passage 12. Doors 13 are hinged at 1 11011 t he wall of the machine casing so that access can be had to the screens 9 whenever lint therefrom.

As will be seen, the partition wall 5 is curved through its upper portion so as to form a drying chamber to accommodate the rotary foraminous cylinder 15 which can be rotated in any suitable manner. The curved strip 1 securedto the inside of easing 1 is so located as to direct the drying medium into the drying chamber. This cylinder is provided with the door 16 through which the materials can be placed in and removed from the cylinder when'the door 17 on the machine casing is also opened. The partition wall 18 is secured by means of the joint 19 to the outer wall of the casing a d has its lower portion bent outwardly to the angle bar 20 secured along the inside face of the casing wall. The partition wall 18 is also given a proper curvature to define the drying chamber. The customary baffles 21 are also provided in the cylinder. As many fans or blowers can be used as'ne'cessary or desired, twobeing here shown, driven by the same shaft 2 with pulley 2, and the corresponding number of screens f.) willbe provided. These fans are of the snail-shell type with a clock-wise direction of rotation, as viewed in Fig. 1, and may be referred to as over-shot by analogy to a water wheel. Each fan 2 has the volute 22 which extends to form the passage-way 23, the several passage-aways merging into the larger conduit 23 which communicates with the bottom of the heating chamber when the valve 24 is' in the full line or raised position, or with the common discharge 26 when the valve 24. is in dotted line position, as indicated in Fig. 1. Another passage-way 25 leads ofl from each volute 22 and has communica desired to clean the tion with the discharge outlet 26 which opens through the side of the casing. A lip 27 is formed upon the edge portion of each wall 28 so as to extend into the path of the strata of air or other drying fluid which is cirtulated by the fan. This wall 28 is joined at its lower edge portion with the upright wall 29 which extends upwardly to the transverse partition wall 6. The passage-way chambers are in communication with each other.

When the maclnne is operated for drying materials in the cylinder 15, the doors 16 and 17 are closed and the fan will draw air through thescreened openings 33 and c1r culated by means of the passage-ways 23 through the heating chamber 3, the drying chamber 4 and the screens 9 which will catch the lint picked up by the air from the materials in the cylinder, and finally this air will be returned to the fan chamber. Because of the more or less moisture picked up by the air or other drying fluid in its passage through the wet materials, a part of the same will be heavier than the, rest which contains less moisture or none at all. Experience has shown that for a constant speed and for the same size of fan, the centrifugal forces generated by the fan-are in direct proportion to the weight of the air or other fluid er unit of volume. That is to say, the mo1sture-ladened air,which isheavier than the dry air, will'cause a greater force to be generated than the air which contains no moisture. This means that the moistureladened air coming from the drying chamher will be divided into inner and outer strata with respect to the axis of the fan. The inner stratum will be comparatively dry while the outer stratum will consist of the moisture-ladened air. Lip 27 is so positioned that the moisture-ladened stratum of air will pass above the same and out through the passage-way 25 to the exhaust, while the lower stratum of comparatively dry air will pass below the lip 27 and through the pas-- sage-way 23 to be re-circulated through the machine. In this way I avoid the re-circulation of the moisture-ladened air through the machine.

Upon completion of the drying operation the valve 24 will be lowered to dotted line position against the stops 2i fixed to the inner wall of the casing, and the door 17 is then opened to permit fresh air to enter and pass through the screens 9 to the fan chamber. This fresh, cold air is then forced out directly through the exhaust 26 without be-- ing permitted to pass through the heating chamber.- In this way the materials are cooled sufliciently to permit their removal.

The principal advantages resulting from this invention reside in the fact that with this machine only comparatively dry air is re-circulated through the heating and dryingchambers and consequently greater efiiciency is attained, since for a given temperature of the air for drying, a lower degree of heat is required in the heating chamber and furthermore the heating coils are not subjected to the corrosion due to accumulation of moisture thereupon. Furthermore the drying process is quicker since the dry air possesses a higher degree of drying efliciency than does the moisture-ladened air.

Further advantages resulting from this invention willbe apparent to those who are skilled in the art to which it relates.

W hat I claim is:

1. In a drying machine, the combination of a casing, a compartment therein for materials to be dried, a heating chamber in the rear part of said casing, a rotary fan of snail shell type located in the lower, forward portion of said casing for passing a drying fluid through said chamber and compartment, said fan having an over-shot action and communicating with the bot-tom part of said heating chamber, and said casing being provided with a discharge leading substantially tangentially from the upper side of said fan to an outlet at the side of said casing 2. In a drying machine, the combination of a casing, a compartment therein for materials to, be dried, a heating chamber in the rear part of said casing, a rotary fan of snail shell type located in the lower," forward portion of said casing for passing a drying fluid through said chamber and compartment, said {an having an over-shot action and communicating with the bottom part of said heating chamber, said casing being provided with a discharge leading substantially tangentially from the upper side of said fan to an outlet at the side of said casing, and means for maintaining separate the strata of fluid from the fan to said heating chamber and discharge outlet, respectively.

In testimony whereof I hereby afiix my signature.

EDMUND I. CUTTER.

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